There Is Another
by Maecenas
Summary: A few months after their run-in with Nero, the Enterprise crew are suddenly transported to a galaxy far, far away. With no knowledge of how they arrived or where they are, Kirk, Spock, Bones, Uhura, Sulu, and a team of red shirts must survive in the perilous world of Jedi, Stormtroopers, and The Force. Set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.
1. Chapter 1: Hailed and Farewell

_**Stardate 2258.145**_

_**Space... the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the starship **_**Enterprise**_**. Her ongoing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life forms and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.**_

* * *

><p>The glare of a strange sun illuminated an equally unknown planetary system, small rocky worlds and giant gaseous orbs alike swinging in orbits as ancient as they were uncharted. The <em>Enterprise <em>sailed past that sun, silhouetted against its white-gold splendor. It was the very first Federation vessel to reach this particular part of space, and for all its crew knew, they were the first sentient beings to lay eyes on this solar system. The very blackness of space itself seemed to seethe with expectation, like the curtain before a play…

"Check," said James Tiberius Kirk casually, suppressing a yawn as he looked up at Spock across the three-dimensional chessboard. It was the first word that anyone on the bridge had spoken for several minutes.

"And about time, too," grumbled Leonard McCoy, glancing blearily over at the combatants. "I was just about to set you two on a timer. I could swear if we left you alone, you'd just stare at the board all day."

"Fine, _you _play chess with the half-Vulcan next time and see how long it takes _you!_" Kirk shot back irritably, not taking his eyes off of the game.

"I am grateful for your action as well, Captain," agreed Spock, "albeit for a somewhat different reason." Picking up one of his bishops, he moved it up a level, capturing Kirk's queen instantly.

Kirk glanced frantically around the board for a way out of this new dilemma and bit his tongue in frustration. "Not _again! _What's going on here, anyway? I used to be able to beat you every now and then."

Spock adopted the facial expression that was as close as he usually got to a smile. "Indeed, Captain, and since then, I have been able to more closely study your rather unorthodox playing style and find ways to counter it."

Kirk scowled. This had been his third loss in a row to Spock, but he had little else to do with his time at the moment. As the _Enterprise _slowly made its way through the solar system, a small army of blue-shirted science officers were busy taking readings, comparing measurements, and generally having the time of their nerdy lives, but "upstairs" on the bridge, all that was required was to stay the course.

Uhura and a bored-looking Sulu remained at the controls of their respective instruments, but most of their fellow officers had long since ceased to try to appear productive. McCoy had buried himself in a Cardassian medical journal, Chekov had disappeared from the bridge an hour ago, and Scotty was, no doubt, getting closely acquainted with a bottle of scotch somewhere within the depths of the ship.

_I suppose I should really be grateful for a quiet day, _Kirk told himself, recalling the many times over the past three months that he'd had to extricate the _Enterprise _from mortal danger. But even to his own ears, he sounded unconvincing. The edge of danger was where James T. Kirk thrived, and watching his chess pieces disappear one by one was no substitute at all.

This was why, when Uhura rose and walked quickly over to him with a concerned expression, Kirk had to fight hard against displaying a broad grin. He attempted to compose his features into a "serious and concerned leader" look, but failed miserably, resembling a self-satisfied KIingon more than anything else.

"Captain, we've just received a message from an unknown sender," Uhura informed him crisply, a subtle note of "I can't believe I'm really working for this guy" audible in her voice (Kirk hastily attempted to rearrange his facial expression into something more sincere, but swiftly realized that he was doing more harm than good), "I have been unable to trace the communication so far, but they _claim _to be emissaries of an empire based on the second planet of this system."

"What do they want?" Kirk asked. Spock leaned forward in his chair, evidently interested as well.

Uhura's frown deepened. "They say they've recognized the _Enterprise _as the ship that—how did they put it?—'played a role in the incident involving the Romulan Nero' three months ago, and they want the Captain, Spock, Dr. McCoy, Mr. Sulu, and myself to beam down to the planet to be personally commended for our actions."

"So you couldn't tell who sent it, and they're asking most of our highest-ranking officers to beam down?" Kirk summarized. "I'm not sure I like the sound of that."

Spock inclined an eyebrow, looking pensive. "Considering especially that we have little or no data on the inhabitants of this star system, it would be wise to proceed with caution," he mused. "It is entirely possible that we would not like this mysterious sender's idea of…'commendation.'"

A heavy silence fell as the others pondered his words. As usual, Spock's logic could not be faulted.

"Well, I suppose that settles that," said Kirk with forced heartiness. "I couldn't agree more, Mr. Spock. Uhura, thank you for a trap well detected. The science team's research will have to wait, I'm afraid. Mr. Sulu, take us out of…"

"If you will allow me a moment, Captain, I had not yet articulated my complete opinion," Spock cut in evenly.

Kirk gritted his teeth, more than used to his first officer's contrarian tendencies by this point. "Go on…"

"It is entirely possible that this empire's designs are somewhat less benevolent than they claim," Spock said, "But all the same, our stated mission _is _'to explore new worlds.' There are no prior Starfleet records of intelligent life in this system. Regardless of that life's intentions where we are concerned, it may well be our duty to investigate personally."

"Yeah, well, what good will that do us if they blow us all up the minute we set foot on their planet?" Kirk countered hotly. "We'll make a note of it, sure, and maybe Starfleet can send someone else in to explore, But this just sounds too much like a trap to me. It would be foolhardy to ignore our suspicions and just rush in."

"Who says we have to?" interjected Dr. McCoy, glancing up from his medical journal. "Certainly, we can beam down, but we don't have to play by their rules. Take some security officers with phasers ready, and be ready to beam out in a hurry if things go sour. The best of both worlds."

"There's probably such a thing as being too suspicious, anyway," Sulu added unexpectedly. "After all, there's a very good chance that they really do want to commend us…and it would be rude of us to pass up such an honor. And if not…well, as Dr. McCoy said, we should be able to escape in a hurry."

Kirk wavered, his mind's eye already painting him a picture of the five of them facing a cheering crowd, receiving medals, hearing words like "valorous" and "exceptional." And, of course, there was the thought of making first contact with an unknown world…

A moment later, he punched a button on the arm of the captain's chair. "Scotty?"

He heard the quickly stifled strains of what sounded like a Scottish drinking song, followed by hurried footsteps and a breathless "Yes Captain?"

"I'm going to be part of a landing party beaming down to the second planet of that system in about ten minutes. Stand by to beam us back aboard in a hurry if anything goes wrong…and take Ensign Chekov with you."

"Aye, sir."

"Sorry you didn't get invited, by the way," Kirk said, breaking the transmission before Scotty could ask what he meant. "All right everyone…let's get ready to go make some new friends."

* * *

><p>Scotty walked through the door to Ensign Chekov's quarters with trepidation and took a long look around the small room, shaking his head. "Lad, I've seen <em>tavern fights <em>that turned out looking neater than this place," he commented drily.

Chekov didn't even look up from his Hercule Poirot novel. "All very well for an engineer! Not everyone is obsessed with precision, you should know."

Scotty surveyed the remains of a roast beef sandwich on top of Chekov's chest of drawers, the civilian clothes strewn across the floor, and the countless pages of scrawled equations that filled the room like a calculus blizzard had hit. "Whatever you say, Ensign. At any rate, didn't you hear the Captain calling us to the transporter room?"

Chekov waved his book irritably. "I was reading! I was concentrating on my book! It is a classic of Russian literature!"

"I'm afraid your whodunit will have to wait, lad," replied Scotty blandly. "A landing party is beaming down into a rather tricky situation shortly, and Captain Kirk wants both of us to stand by in case something goes wrong. Come on, now!"

"Right away, sir!" said Chekov, eagerly springing up from his bed. Scotty grinned—he'd known from the beginning that the ensign would jump at the chance to show off his technical wizardry.

The two strode off for the transporter room, Chekov grabbing his half-eaten sandwich as he left.

* * *

><p>The landing party was due to beam down in less than a minute, and the tense feelings in the transporter room had become almost physically tangible. Kirk glanced around the cluster of red-shirted security officers surrounding him, phasers at the ready—at least a dozen grim, resolved faces looked back at him. If they were as nervous as he was, they certainly weren't showing it.<p>

"A little unsettling, eh?" muttered McCoy, his tone darkly amused. "Having no idea if we're going to end up being hailed as heroes or shot at, I mean."

"Don't forget, you're the one who signed up for all this, enlisting in Starfleet," Kirk reminded him. "Mr. Spock, are we ready?"

"The landing party is prepared to beam down, Captain," Spock replied impassively. Sulu crossed his fingers, Uhura closed her eyes and tried to look calm, and the security crew shuffled around, forming a circle around their superior officers.

"Scotty?"

"Standing by, sir." Chekov gave the landing party a thumbs-up from the transporter console, grinning.

"Energize!"

"Energizing…"

Kirk felt the familiar tingling sensation of the transporter room preparing to beam them down. He took a final look around the landing party, who almost looked like statues in the golden light….

Where _was _all of the golden light coming from, anyway? The transporter room, usually lit with a silvery glow, suddenly looked like the inside of a sun. Kirk felt an unusual lurching sensation in his stomach—nothing like the usual experience of dematerialization.

Spock glanced over at him, his eyebrows raised in alarm. "Captain—"

And in a sudden, searing flash of light and heat, they were gone. The golden light faded, leaving an empty transporter room behind.

* * *

><p>At the console, the enormous screen that Chekov and Scotty had been intently watching suddenly warped, collapsing into a garbled display of pixels.<p>

"_NO!_" Chekov lunged for the controls and began frantically entering instructions. In seconds, the screen's normal display returned, glowing a bright cerulean blue. But there was one difference from its previous state, a difference that made Scotty's jaw drop: the cluster of seventeen diamond shapes that had represented the landing party had vanished.

For several long, long moments, the two simply stared at the screen, as if trying to will the diamonds back into existence. _Standing by, _the screen read blandly.

"Something _has _gone wrong, hasn't it?" Chekov asked weakly.

Scotty took a deep breath. "Aye."

* * *

><p>Far, far away, James Tiberius Kirk's eyes snapped open. He felt tremendously dizzy, and he was sprawled full-length on some unfamiliar surface. He could blearily discern the shapes of his fellow officers beginning to stir around him.<p>

Most unnerving by far, though, was the sound still echoing through his head.

The sound of screaming.

* * *

><p><strong>Welcome one and all to my latest writing endeavor, and may you all live long and prosper!<strong>

**I wasn't always a Star Trek fan, but I consider myself to be one now. If I made any mistakes, bear with me, as I'm a newcomer!**

**You've probably noticed that this story is listed as a crossover. That's also a new experience for me, but the idea of bringing two fictional universes together—particularly **_**these **_**two—is an absolute geeky thrill. I have a lot of plans for this story, and I invite you all along to see how it unfolds. By the way, I'd like to mention now that this story is going to owe a good deal to my beta-reader/co-writer Aberolingarn, who knows far more about a certain franchise than I do.**

**Now for a few Nerd Notes (which will almost certainly be a regular feature):**

**-I'm using the 2009 movie's stardate system. 2258.145 is May 25, the day **_**A New Hope **_**hit theaters. One of many little homages to come (though that is indeed three months after the events of the Star Trek movie, as well, which took place in mid-February if my math is right).**

**-Cardassians officially debuted in The Next Generation, but by the 2009 movie they were apparently well-known enough to have a drink named after them on Earth. Good enough for me!**

**-Chekov was originally supposed to be solving a murder mystery on the holodeck—and would've appeared with a virtual knife in his hand when Scotty found him—but, you know, holodecks were really a Next Generation thing. I know there was a prototypical one in The Animated Series, but that just didn't seem to be close enough. Hopefully the Ensign's introduction was still fun.**

**-Speaking of Chekov, his mistaken belief that everything was "inwented in Russia" was a running gag in the original series. I make a nod to that here with his misconception about Hercule Poirot (Poirotovitch?)**

**-It should be noted that Scotty is awesome. My story will reflect this fact.**

**All right, stay tuned for more thrilling developments, and I hope you enjoy! Please let me know how I'm doing with reviews/feedback.**

**Maecenas out.**


	2. Chapter 2: Cast and Coruscant

Greatness is a road leading towards the unknown.  
><strong>Charles de Gaulle<strong>

* * *

><p>His head pounding as it never had before and his vision blurred, Captain Kirk rose shakily to his feet. Around him, the rest of the landing party was doing much the same thing—at least, Kirk corrected himself with alarm, those of them that were still there.<p>

Scowling, Kirk did a quick headcount of his fellow officers, then counted again. Six, including himself. All but one of the security officers were simply gone.

"Um, is everyone okay?" he asked weakly, all too aware that this was something of a stupid question when a dozen people had just vanished into thin air.

"Jim, what's going on?" demanded Doctor McCoy. "Something go wrong with the transporter?"

Kirk shrugged helplessly, then dug his communicator out of his pocket and flipped it open. "Let's see if the other end knows anything. Scotty?"

From the device came nothing but a flat buzzing tone. Biting back a curse, Kirk snapped it shut.

"What…what _is _this place?" said Sulu in a tone of quiet awe, staring dumbfoundedly up into the sky.

He had good reason to wonder, Kirk conceded as he began to survey their surroundings. The six of them were standing in an expansive metallic courtyard of some kind beneath an exquisitely fiery sunset sky, the clouds mixing in combinations of blue, orange, and gold that could never have occurred on Earth. Hundreds of small, dark darts—aircraft of some sort—swept back and forth across that sky, and the looming shapes of massive towers stretched to the horizon all around them.

"I can confirm that we are _not _on the planet to which we had intended to travel," said Spock drily, not looking up from his tricorder. "However, even in light of that fact, I'm finding the readings to be somewhat…confusing."

That was never good news coming from Spock. Kirk let out a frustrated sigh, running a hand absently through his hair and gazing off at the distant hive of towers. "Well, at least we won't need to worry about the Prime Directive—I think _we're _probably the 'more primitive civilization' right now, if those towers are half as big as I think they are.

"This isn't exactly what you'd call an ideal first contact," he continued, turning to face the assembled officers. "Half of our team is gone, we have no idea where we are, and we're out of reach of communications with the _Enterprise. _That limits our options, but our objective is still clear: We need to get in touch with some sort of authority here, and see if they can tell us something about what's going on."

"I believe 'take me to your leader' is the commonly accepted phrase in this situation, Captain," Spock suggested, deliberately enunciating the phrase in a whiny, robotic monotone. Next to him, Uhura slapped a hand to her mouth, obviously trying to conceal a tremendous fit of laughter.

"Shut up, Mr. Spock. Let's move out, shall we? Keep your phasers handy—remember, we have no idea what we might run into."

They began to stride forward as one, their footsteps echoing in joined cacophony against the metal floor of the courtyard. "Jim Kirk telling people to be _cautious_," Dr. McCoy could be heard muttering under his breath. "This _is _a new world."

* * *

><p>A few moments later, Kirk felt a hand on his shoulder and turned. It was Uhura, who had fallen into step next to him. "Captain," she said sotto voce, nodding towards the sole remaining red-shirt, who was trudging slowly along at the back of the group. "Maybe you should say something to her?"<p>

A stricken look crossed Kirk's face. He'd been so completely preoccupied with the mission and their new surroundings that he'd almost completely forgotten about the poor woman who had just watched a dozen of her co-workers vanish into thin air. A good Captain, he ruefully admitted to himself, would have paid better attention to his fellow officers.

"You're absolutely right, Nyota, I'm sorry," Kirk told Uhura. "I'll go talk to her now…"

He departed, his footsteps clanging brashly against the metal. Uhura watched him go, torn between grudging respect for his apology and irritation that he still insisted on using _that name._

The security officer was an athletically-built young woman with fairly short, stylishly cut coppery hair. She was looking rather overwhelmed by recent turns of events—_we all probably do, _Kirk reminded himself—but fixed him with an intense, blue-eyed stare as he approached.

"Sorry, I don't know your name…" Kirk ventured awkwardly.

"Adalyn Foster, Captain." She saluted him formally. "I don't suppose you know anything about what happened to the rest of the team?"

He shook his head. "All I know is that something _very _strange happened," he admitted. "We're going to have to find things out for ourselves. There's no reason to assume that they're dead, though—transporters can do some pretty weird things when they malfunction. They could be anywhere…"

They both ducked as a hovercraft screamed by a few feet overhead—Kirk noticed curious-looking faces, both humanlike and distinctly alien, staring down at them from the craft's windows. Adalyn Foster watched the ship soar off into the distance, taking a deep, shaky breath. "Well, whatever happened, Captain, I think I can be useful on this mission," she said after a few moments had passed in silence. "My specialty at Starfleet was diplomacy; it might come in handy if we find some authorities eventually."

"Miss Foster took an advanced course in the Vulcan language and culture under my direction at the Academy," Spock put in. "She is a capable and quick-witted woman, and could, indeed, prove invaluable on this expedition."

Something Spock had said stuck oddly in Kirk's mind, but he couldn't quite place the thought. For the moment, he tried to brush the concern aside, and shook Adalyn's hand. "Well, for what it's worth, welcome to the away team.

"Now, then"—this to the entire assembled group—"Are we ready? Let's move out, then."

The away team set off, casting the occasional bemused glance at the alien sky and cityscape around them. James T. Kirk was in the lead—so it was he who, a few minutes later, stumbled and toppled out of sight, falling from the edge of what was clearly _not _a courtyard, but a roof.

* * *

><p>The same lightning-quick reflexes that had kept Kirk alive aboard the <em>Narada <em>three months ago were barely enough to save him now. Twisting around as he fell, he scrabbled for a hold on the smooth metal of the roof, his fingers finally clamping into place at the absolute edge. He dangled there helplessly, not daring to look down, the buried rational part of his mind feeling absurdly grateful that at least this time, there were no bloodthirsty Romulans trying to loosen his purchase.

A terrified-looking Sulu and a neutral-looking Spock grabbed his arms and carefully hauled him back up. Kirk stumbled back a few paces from the edge, barely managing to stay on his feet.

"Okay, let's not do that again," he suggested, peering cautiously down from the edge. He couldn't see the ground at all—the matrix of skyscrapers and hovercraft simply continued down, straight out of his line of vision.

"It would seem that our prior analysis of the situation was…incomplete," Spock conceded, his mouth twitching slightly.

"Darn _right _it was," said Dr. McCoy fervently. "We were on a _roof _this whole time?" He squinted incredulously at the tallest of the distant towers. "If we're that high up, then how far away are _those?"_

Adalyn Foster shook her head, looking bewildered. "We were outside of Federation space before we beamed down, sure, but not _that _far out. A civilization this huge—we should have known about it long before now."

"What did you get us into _this _time?" Uhura demanded of Kirk, a kind of confused awe in her voice.

That was a question that James T. Kirk desperately wanted the answer to himself, but it seemed increasingly unlikely that he would be enlightened anytime soon. He straightened his gold Captain's uniform, ensured that his phaser was set on "Stun," and turned back to the expectant faces of his away team. "Let's look for another way down."

* * *

><p>It didn't take them long to find a door leading down into the building. To everyone's surprise, it was open, and they filed in nervously, thoroughly uncertain what to expect.<p>

The room was empty, and had clearly been abandoned for some time. The architecture was distinctly alien, reminding Kirk of an amphitheater—they'd come in at the top row of an arrangement of descending tiers of benches, circling a raised dais in the center. An enormous, dusty screen filled the majority of the dais, text still flickering blue-green beneath its surface.

Kirk shot a glance at Uhura. "You're our xenolinguistics expert…"

"Right." Without losing a moment, she vaulted over the nearest bench and began expertly maneuvering her way down to the central dais. _Spock is one lucky Vulcan, _Kirk couldn't help thinking as he watched the athletic display.

A tense silence followed as Uhura stared quizzically at the screen, the eyes of the entire landing party on her.

"Captain." Her voice sounded odd. "It's…it's in _English._"

"_What?" _He sprinted down to join her at the dais, nearly tripping over several benches on his way. There it was, undeniable: _Cumulative Imports for Central Coruscant Sector, 348972.22. , _followed by an extensive chart of numbers.

Kirk blinked a few times, half-expecting the words to vanish every time he did. "You have _got _to be kidding me," he mumbled, his mind racing to no avail.

"Chorus-can't?" mused Adalyn, pronouncing the word deliberately. "I've never even heard of it…"

"If we're so far away from Federation space on an unknown planet, how can they be familiar enough with English to use it casually?" Uhura wondered, dusting off more of the screen. Further familiar words and phrases steadily appeared as she did—notes on shipping contracts, something about Galactic Senate trade regulations, and so on.

Kirk raised his eyebrows. "_Galactic _Senate?"

Spock was beginning to look unusually perturbed. "At this point, barring the notion that this is all some immensely complex practical joke, we should begin to consider what other possibilities remain. We may have somehow found our way far into the future, into some extremely distant part of the universe, or"—he paused momentarily—"We may very well not be in the same version of reality from which we departed."

At his words, a blizzard of images and sounds began to pulse through Kirk's memory. A lightning storm in space, and an enormous ship, bristling with strange insectoid spines, beginning to emerge from it. A gargantuan rusted-metal drill, flames spurting from its underbelly, boring into the crust of a mountainous planet. A voice much like the one he had just heard, but seasoned with age and wisdom, telling him to live long and prosper…

"Not _again!_" Sulu protested, summing up Kirk's thoughts on the subject nicely.

"We know it's possible," he responded grimly. "Let's look for a way down to the ground floor, shall we?"

"Elevator," Sulu pointed out, indicating a cylindrical door at the opposite end of the amphitheater from the door that had led to the roof.

It was no small endeavor to cram six people into the small elevator, but splitting up the landing party seemed to be an even worse option. Eventually they began to descend, and later—much later (Kirk's thoughts spent several minutes alternating between _How tall is this building, anyway? _and _Sulu's standing on my foot_), they reached the ground floor.

A moment later, the doors hissed open, and the landing party filed out into the building's lobby. Kirk had been tense, preparing to defend his life if necessary, but the only sound that greeted him was the echoing of his and his companions' footsteps on the shiny, jet-black floor.

"_No _one?" Dr. McCoy wondered in hushed tones. "Is this _whole building _abandoned?"

"I think it is," Kirk answered him, in a much louder tone than his friend had used. Immediately, he had the attention of the entire landing party.

"Mr. Spock," he continued, "Something you said back on the roof caught my attention. You were talking about Miss Foster, here, and you said that she could be invaluable on this expedition."

Spock inclined an eyebrow. "I fail to see the relevance to our present situation, Captain."

Kirk held up a hand. "I'm getting to that. Miss Foster was part of a security detail of twelve officers, but she was the only one who remained when we woke up here. Now, why is that? What made her different?

"She wasn't the only human female on the team. There were humans of various races and genders, a few aliens—even a Vulcan like you, Spock."

"I am _not _an alien, Captain," Spock protested.

Kirk ignored him, not wanting to get into what would undoubtedly be a long and unwinnable argument. "Like you said, Miss Foster is exactly what this team needed—a trained diplomat, someone who can help us communicate with whoever lives on this planet.

"So, why was the only security officer who stayed with us the one who could help the team most? Could be a coincidence, but think about this: we landed on an abandoned building, and that gave us time to get our bearings and recover. It all seems a little too convenient to be accidental."

McCoy frowned skeptically. "You're saying we were sent here _on purpose? _Who could do something like that?"

Kirk shrugged. "No idea, Bones. Practically speaking, it doesn't change our objective, but we should keep it in mind."

"Maybe that's why that chart we saw was in English," Uhura added thoughtfully. "Something could be automatically translating for us. I have to agree with the Doctor, though—I don't know of any being that would be powerful enough to do all of that."

"The more I think about all this, the less I like it," Kirk grumbled. "Come on, let's find a way out of here."

In the darkness, the members of the landing party could barely see each other's faces a few feet away, so finding the door seemed to be a daunting proposition. Reluctant to leave the security of each other's' company, they slowly fanned out to the shrouded edges of the room. For a few moments, the silence was broken only by their footsteps; then there was a hissing noise and a sudden flood of sunset light. Spock stood silhouetted in the newly revealed doorway, and the others hastened to join him.

"I assume we're headed for those, Captain?" inquired Sulu, indicating the most massive group of towers in the distance.

Kirk nodded, scanning the street ahead of them. "Right. I think if we head northeast…"

"Captain." An unfamiliar voice to him—Adalyn's. She spoke softly, but he recognized the urgency in her voice: the sound of someone who has seen impending danger.

Following her gaze, Kirk saw a dark figure emerging from another doorway about twenty feet away, heading purposefully towards the landing party. "Good eyes," he told her. "Stick around—I'll need you as a diplomat."

As the figure drew closer, the rest of the landing party adopted subtly defensive stances. About as tall as Spock, the newcomer was obscured by some sort of hooded robe.

"Uh, greetings," Kirk plunged in. The figure stopped its advance, tilting its head to take in the entire party. "My name is James Kirk; I'm captain of the U.S.S._ Enterprise. _I represent the United Federation of Planets. Could you tell me anything about this world? Where to find some sort of local authority?"

There was a momentary pause. And then the figure pulled a gun of some sort from beneath its robes and fired it directly at Kirk.

Adrenaline took over. Kirk flung himself out of the way, hearing an explosion behind him as he did, and collapsed hard onto the street.

"Scatter and return fire!" he barked with what little air he had left, reaching for his own phaser as he scrambled back to his feet.

Their assailant fired another shot at Kirk as he regained his feet—_some sort of energy weapon_, he noted, as the searing blast roared over his left shoulder and blew a hole in the wall behind him. Seconds later, the first phaser found its mark—Sulu's, he thought. The hooded figure staggered backward, robes billowing, but remained on its feet.

Kirk gritted his teeth, his stomach lurching unpleasantly. No humanoid species he knew of could remain conscious after a direct hit from a Starfleet-issue phaser. It looked like things were about to turn very dangerous…

More phaser blasts—Uhura's, Adalyn's, his own—struck the robed figure, but it remained standing, cracking off shot after shot from its ray gun. Then, suddenly, Spock was behind it, stretching out a hand. For a few seconds, he gripped the base of their attacker's neck in a motion that was all too familiar to Kirk, then let go.

The robed figure slumped to the ground, clearly unconscious. Next to it, some small object clattered onto the pavement.

There followed a few moments' silence, broken only by the gasping sounds of the landing party regaining their breath.

"Well, as first contacts go, I must say I've seen better," Uhura commented wryly, kneeling by their unconscious assailant and pushing back its hood.

Kirk stared. The creature at his feet was not, as he'd already begun to suspect, human. Its skull was hairless and blood-red, and long tendrils began on either side of its nose, reaching past its mouth. Though its eyes were almost completely closed, Kirk could just barely see the glimmer of golden irises staring blankly back at him.

He let out the long breath he'd been holding. "Anybody ever seen one of these guys before?"

"I must confess I have not, Captain," said Spock slowly, still sounding uneasy.

Sulu, meanwhile, had gingerly picked up the object that had fallen when Spock knocked out the alien. It was a silver cylinder about a foot long, covered with an odd pattern of buttons and designs.

"Some kind of weapon, do you think?" he mused, turning the cylinder over in his hands to examine it from another angle. "Impractical design for a gun—you wouldn't be able to grip it properly."

The rest of the landing party gathered around, intently surveying the curious little device. "Maybe it's explosive?" Dr. McCoy hazarded. "You'd press a button or something, then throw it…"

"That would not explain the hollow portion at this end of the device," Spock pointed out, tapping the region in question with a casually outstretched finger. "It seems as though it may have been designed to connect to something else."

Kirk cautiously took the cylinder from Sulu. "It might not be anything important, but since the person who was carrying it just tried to kill us all, I can't help but be a little suspicious. Let's hang on to it for now until we manage to make a more informative contact—if there _are _any on this planet."

Adalyn Foster's expression was clouded. "Something about that thing—I don't know—makes me feel strange."

Kirk raised an eyebrow. "Really? Well, we're going to be as careful as we can with it. After all, we have absolutely no idea what…"

Without warning, there was a sharp crackling sound, which soon gave way to a low, ominous hum. A ghostly green glow illuminated the faces of the landing party, which all suddenly bore horrified expressions.

Her eyes wide, her face pale, Adalyn Foster stared down at the solid beam of green light that had just erupted from the device and stabbed her in the chest. Moments later, she crumpled, hitting the pavement without a sound.

* * *

><p><strong>Welcome back to There Is Another, now with 121% less lens flare! Hope you enjoyed watching these new developments unfold. Things aren't looking too good for our resident red-shirt, I'm afraid, but the galaxy is full of surprises!<strong>

**The next chapter might go back to the **_**Enterprise, **_**follow the missing security team (they're still out there!), or resolve the present cliffhanger. All three of those stories are coming up; it's merely the order that's in question. Stay tuned!**

**My usual Nerd Notes (fewer this time, as I'm keeping things a bit mysterious):**

** I wanted to include a date on the monitor of the Coruscant trade company to establish when in **_**Star Wars **_**canon this story takes place, but the system just doesn't work well in-universe. (And is confusing). Suffice it to say that it's 19 BBY, or, in other words, a few years after **_**Return of the Sith. **_**For all those who wanted to know whether it was the prequel or original trilogy, I, just like Captain Kirk, have taken a third option—it's between them!**

** The species of the alien that attacked the landing party will be important, and so will the fact that it was armed with both a blaster and a lightsaber. If you can figure the species out from my description, congratulations; you have earned a virtual cookie.**

** Confession time: I actually had not seen the Star Wars prequel trilogy at the time I started writing (I know, I know). I did see **_**Gungans and Qui-Gons **_**(as a certain webcomic once called it) in its recent 3-D rerelease, and suffice it to say it doesn't quite measure up to the originals. You knew that, though…**

** Oh, and as we speak, the second J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie is filming! REJOICE!**

**That's all for now, but again I urge you to stay tuned—things are getting interesting, and let's just say that the little shootout and lightsaber-swingin' from the end of this chapter have NOT gone unnoticed…  
>Maecenas out.<strong>


	3. Chapter 3: The Jawas of Defeat

"_Gone like a freight train/Gone like yesterday/Gone like a soldier in the Civil War, bang bang/Gone like a fifty-nine Cadillac/like all the good things/that ain't never comin' back."_

**-Montgomery Gentry, **_**Gone **_

* * *

><p>A searing headache was the first thing that Sophia Katsaros became aware of as she drifted back into consciousness. Several other unpleasant sensations followed, the foremost of which was a sudden urge to vomit. She fought down the nauseous feeling, gingerly sitting up and opening her eyes, though a sudden gust of hot, dry wind forced them shut almost immediately as small particles stung them. <em>Sand?<em>

Shielding her eyes now, Sophia opened them once again, blinking in the harsh sunlight of a seemingly endless desert. The only interruption to the rolling sand dunes was the rest of Security Team Six sprawled out around her.

_What just happened? _Sophia demanded of herself, gripping the side of her head. She felt like she'd just been broadsided by a vehicle the size of, oh, say, the _Enterprise_, which was _not _helping her memory of recent events. She remembered the full security detail assembling in the transporter room, and then…and then…someone screaming. That was all.

The number of bodies seemed much too small for how many people had been in the away team. Sophia did a head count, growing frantic when she noted the absence of the entire bridge crew as well as Adalyn Foster, the team "captain", and her best friend. She scrambled to her feet, barely restraining herself from shouting into the hazy, sandy wilderness to try and get a friendly response. Instead, she tried to catch her breath, mind spinning as she sank back onto the hot sand, though the dizziness was more vertigo than anything. Once she'd calmed down again, Sophia carefully went over the emergency protocol that had been drilled into her mind at the academy. Without Adalyn there, Sophia was technically the leader of the team, a realization that was both unpleasant and unwelcome.

"_This can't be happening,"_ Sophia thought with a groan, falling back onto the ground, ignoring the fact that she was getting covered in sand as she tried to think of reasons _why_ this couldn't be happening. _"One: I'm not a leader. I'm the sensitive one, the thoughtful one, the one Adalyn always said was a Betazoid in disguise. I read people, figure them out. Not boss them around; I can't do that! Two: I have no clue where we are, much less where the bridge crew and Adalyn went to. Three: … I can't think of a number three. Fantastic."_ She sat up once again, resigned to, but still slightly overwhelmed by the task of trying to lead security team six.

Sophia looked around at the various other members of the team, gratified to see that none of them seemed the worse for wear after what was, undoubtedly, the most spectacular transporter failure she'd ever witnessed or experienced. She had to stifle a bout of laughter, though, when she saw one of the newest team members pinned under Lyren Grax, the team's Betazoid tactician and mind reader. _That poor man._ Sophia thought with a smile as she removed the outer jacket of her decidedly much too stuffy uniform. Lyren was quiet and reserved, even for a Betazoid, and his telepathy had made him highly sensitive to emotion. Christy had only been part of the team for a few weeks, a new addition after their arrival on the _Enterprise_, and she had never been known to censor her language. Lyren was in for quite the earful (and mindful) when the two of them woke up.

Sophia took a steadying breath before once again climbing to her feet, this time moving to rouse the other team members. She received several groans of pain and annoyance in varying levels, and one remark of, "Just five more minutes, ma," which earned the speaker a sound kick in the rump before Sophia moved to the next person. A few minutes later, as she was walking from a slightly concussed Thomas to a happily snoring Kaylee, Christy and Lyren woke up. There was an initial moment of confusion, and then Christy broke into a series of screamed profanities that would have made a Klingon proud (or blush, Sophia wasn't sure where exactly the line was drawn). Sophia struggled to hide a grin as Lyren scrambled backwards, face red and one hand over his left ear, the one that had been closest to Christy's mouth.

Everybody laughed, and Christy had the good grace to look embarrassed. By the time Sophia had finished her rounds, all but two of the other security officers were awake and at least semi-upright, all of them attempting to either contact the_ Enterprise_ or discern their present location. There was a definite air of confusion and fear surrounding everyone as they gathered around Sophia, brushing sand off uniforms and out of hair, though Thomas stayed behind, attempting to rouse the two downed officers. Christy was the first to speak, breaking the edgy silence. "Lieutenant, where the hell are we?"

Sophia flinched. "I really don't know, Christy. Though I can safely say that we're not where we're supposed to have ended up."

"No, _really?_" Christy snapped back. "Anybody with eyes can tell that this isn't the nice _green_ planet we were supposedly beaming down to." She swept an arm out towards the desert. "That landscape sure as hell ain't green. Oh, and one other thing, Miss Einstein. The solar system we were just in? _It only had one sun._" She jabbed a finger at the sky with her last sentence. Sophia looked up and groaned—sure enough, two golden stars shone blindingly overhead. As she blinked the doubled glare out of her eyes, she saw Kaylee, one of the members that had been with the team throughout its days in Starfleet Academy, put a hand on Christy's shoulder, a silent warning to _shut up and stop mouthing off to your superior_. Christy apparently didn't get the hint, or chose to ignore it as she shook the hand off. "So, what are we going to do now, _Leader__?_" She put as much malice as possible into the name as possible, making it perfectly clear that she did not approve of the change in management.

Sophia gave the other woman a disbelieving look. "Excuse me?" A smug grin crept onto Christy's face, and her stance simply oozed rebellious confidence. Heads swiveled between the two women, most wondering either why this was happening now of all times, or who was going to win the fight. Thomas just sighed from his seat between the two unconscious officers. Of all the times for the two siblings to have a fight…

"I hope you don't mind my interference, but our survival on this planet may well depend on the cessation of your petty squabbles," cut in an even voice with a distinctly Vulcan accent.

"Do you mind, Sanek?" asked Sophia, her teeth gritted.

"Yes, actually," he responded, forcing his broad-shouldered frame between the opposing siblings and fixing Christy with an imperturbable stare. "If we are to locate our lost crewmates and find out just where we are, we will need to function efficiently as a team. It is only logical that we should put aside our disagreements for the time being."

Sophia sighed, internally admitting that the irksome Vulcan was right. Difficult as it might be to manage someone like her sister, keeping some level of harmony within the team would be essential if they were all going to survive for long in a desert like this. She took a deep, steadying breath, then turned back to the rest of the team, who had been watching the confrontation unfold with interest.

"Right…sorry. Um…well…I guess we should just move out and start looking for shelter, okay?" she told them hesitantly. _How does Adalyn do stuff like this all the time? _she silently demanded of herself.

"Signs of civilization would be best, obviously, but if we can't find that, there should at least be a cave or something where we can get out of the sun."

"Suns."

"Shuddup, Kaylee. Anyway, we'll try to contact the _Enterprise _again at nightfall, then plan what we're going to do next."

Sophia took a long look at the rest of Team Six, carefully reading their expressions. Sanek was inscrutable as always and Christy's arms were still crossed in defiance, but the rest seemed to have pulled together. They looked just a little bit more unified, more confident, and seeing that gave Sophia all the reassurance she needed.

She smiled, a little nervously. "Our team survived Nero and the wormhole; this will be no problem. Let's go! We've got a planet to explore."

They set off, eleven red shirts blazing against an ocean of pale sand. Sophia soon fell into step with Christy, who was trudging resolutely along, glowering at the dunes beneath her feet.

"Anything to say?" she asked her sister sweetly.

"Let's just hurry up and find some shelter," Christy growled. "Knowing our luck, this place probably gets sandstorms at night."

* * *

><p>"I'm not sure I like this," mumbled Lyren, what felt like several hours later.<p>

The security team stood at the mouth of an enormous canyon system, interconnected rocky valleys stretching out to the horizon. Only in the last few minutes had the endless sea of rolling dunes given way to rocky terrain: the canyons seemed to have risen up out of nowhere.

Sophia avoided meeting Lyren's eyes—the empathic abilities of Betazoids had always unnerved her a little. "We were looking for shelter," she pointed out, "And whatever we find in this canyon, at least we'll be out of the open desert."

The others still looked hesitant. "Remember that huge skeleton I tripped over?" said Kaylee, nervously brushing a strand of non-Starfleet-standard blue-highlighted hair out of her eyes. "What if there's an _alive_ one of…whatever that was…in there?"

"That's why God told Zefam Cochrane to invent phasers," Christy replied promptly. Sophia grinned—she'd known her sister would be anxious to put their long, blistering, sandy trek to an end. Still, she had to admit that now that the twin suns were sinking towards the horizon, the twisting canyons were starting to look a little dark…and ominous…and…

_Snap out of it, Sophia, _she chided herself hastily. _In case you forgot, you have a team you're supposed to be leading!_

Before she could change her mind again, Sophia strode decisively into the mouth of the canyon, the rest of Team Six reluctantly following behind her. They fell into shadow almost immediately, and the temperature plunged abruptly as first one sun, then the other slid out of view behind the overhanging crags.

"I must admit that I agree with Lyren," mused Sanek.

"About what?" asked Sophia absently, most of her attention still devoted to scanning their surroundings.

"I'm not sure I like this either," he responded matter-of-factly.

An uneasy silence fell, broken only by the steady crunching of their footsteps. Sophia was painfully aware that she didn't really know where she was leading the team, but the vague hope of finding civilization kept her resolved to stay moving until nightfall.

Occasionally, a distant sound would break the silence, reminding them all that they were not alone in the desert. Once, a warbling, alien roar echoed distantly through the canyon, unnerving the whole team (Kaylee in particular, who was immediately convinced that the noise had originated from an animal like the one whose skeleton she'd encountered earlier). More frequently, there would be the muffled clatter of rocks falling, often accompanied by the frantic sounds of scratching and scuttling. Sophia desperately tried to convince herself that these originated from creatures no more threatening than Earth mice, but she couldn't suppress the chills they sent down her spine.

By the time the last glimmers of sunset light were beginning to disappear—sunset with two stars had been quite a production, lasting more than an hour—Team Six had encountered an obstacle. Before them, at a narrow pass in the canyon, was a substantial rockfall, enormous boulders littered with abandon from wall to rocky wall.

"Let's set up camp here for the night," Sophia suggested, looking around at the others' silhouettes in the semi-darkness. "It might be a lost cause, but before you do anything else, I want everyone to try to contact the _Enterprise _from here, just in case."

There was a pause, then various glowing patches of light ignited as communicators and tricorders were turned on. This was quickly followed by a rather substantial outbreak of cursing in at least three languages (Greek for Christy; Betazoid for Lyren; particularly salty Romulan for Thomas, who was something of a professional).

Sophia suppressed a grin. "Well, that figures. Let's get our supplies out, maybe get a fire started, and bed down for the night. Maybe tomorrow we'll find some civilization…"

"Are you kidding?" Christy flared up immediately. "This whole planet is a godforsaken desert. Who the hell d'you think would live _here?_"

"UTINI!" somebody answered.

After a stunned, immobile instant, Security Team Six began scrambling for their phasers. Unfortunately, they were far too late—dozens of small, brown-cloaked figures were pouring rapidly out of crevices in the rock everywhere they looked, surrounding them within seconds.

Sophia only had time to say "What—" as the nearest cloaked creature, rusty eyes glimmering from the depths of its hood, hoisted a ludicrously large device that crackled at one end with barely suppressed electricity. It pulled the trigger in a businesslike way a moment later, and a tremendous flare of light burst into the twilight air.

Sophia was barely conscious of her body slamming onto the unforgiving floor of the canyon, scarcely aware of her every nerve tingling with lighting. In moments, her consciousness slipped away, for the second time that day, to the sound of screaming.

* * *

><p><strong>Hello and welcome back! I'm painfully aware of how long it's been since my last post, but now, happily, it's summer and I have far more time to write. Fans and friends of FanFiction, watch this space for possibly exciting new developments coming soon!<strong>

**This chapter was co-written by Aberolingarn, who also created many of the members of Security Team Six (by which I mean everyone except Adalyn and Sophia). Many thanks for her excellent work!**

**It's just not a good day to be a red shirt (then again, do they have any good days?). First Captain Kirk stabs Adalyn with a lightsaber, then the rest of her team is abducted by Jawas. So it goes. I don't know what the time difference is between Coruscant and Tatooine, but I wouldn't be surprised if all this was happening at once! Of course, there's more to the story as far as Team Six is concerned—after all, the Jawas must be taking them somewhere…**

* * *

><p><strong> Time for some Nerd Notes!<strong>

** -A few hints I've placed in this chapter suggest that Security Team Six took the exact same route as R2-D2 did at the beginning of **_**A New Hope, **_**waking up where the escape pod landed and getting abducted by the same Jawa gang. Coincidence…or design? We still don't know who sent them all to the galaxy far far away, after all! Given the parallels, playing the appropriate music ("The Little People") while reading this chapter might be amusing.**

** -As far as I know, it's not Star Trek canon that Zefam Cochrane invented the phaser, but then again, why not? Memory Alpha just says they were invented sometime in the 23****rd**** Century, and Cochrane was around then. Being a survivor of massive world war, he probably would've wanted to develop less fatal weapons for the new frontier, and being the kind of guy he was, he'd want to do so anonymously. Regardless of what the truth is, it's the kind of thing Christy would say.**

** -Aberolingarn was the one who named one of the red-shirts "Kaylee," but she tells me she's never even heard of **_**Firefly **_**and that it was a coincidence. I've been writing her personality similarly to the other Kaylee's, though, just for laughs.**

** -Jawas are only seen abducting droids in the movies, but remember, they're technology scavengers, and everyone was using communicators right before they were attacked. Besides, there are other reasons...**

** -Simon Pegg has said that Benedict Cumberbatch is NOT playing Khan in the new Star Trek movie. Thank you Scotty! I hope this is true, for as fine an actor as Benedict is, I just can't see him in the role once so nobly filled by Ricardo Montalban's pecs.**

* * *

><p><strong> -UTINI! (Translation…Maecenas Out for now!)<strong>


End file.
